Tikkabik

Christmas is once again behind us, and for that I am grateful. As you probably know by now, I take no great pleasure in the season. I find it very stressful and uncomfortable for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, to relieve that stress, I've spent much of this long holiday weekend playing World of Warcraft. It's become my new obsession. Although I've played the game regularly throughout its extensive beta-test since last Spring, I've only really recently dug my heels into it and started exploring it to its full potential -- ironically after I've already reviewed the game, but it doesn't matter, because all the time I've spent with it reenforces the observations I made for that review.

I'm really, really enjoying the process of creating and developing new characters, and have spread my interests equally between different classes and races of Alliance and Horde characters. A night elf druid (how cliche!), a human warrior (yeah, but she's a she), an undead warlock (my least-played character at the moment, mainly because warlocks are so physically frail) and a Tauren hunter.

Now, the Tauren hunter I created on a lark. It was mainly for the benefit of my boys, who like watching over my shoulder as I play. Tauren, as the name implies, are minotaur-like bipedal creatures who look like cattle -- large horns, splayed nostrils, hooves. They're the aboriginal characters of the game -- they look, act and dress with a sort of Native American effect.

Here's the thing, though -- Cebu, as I named him, has become my most-played and highest-level character. He's now a Level 17 hunter well on his way to Level 18, and has a cougar for a pet that travels with him everywhere. Well, further proof that you are what you eat.

Ironic. I'm just glad they don't have any playable swine characters, or I'd never hear the end of it.